African Diaspora essays

African Diaspora essays After the Civil War and the emancipation proclamation by Lincoln the slaves of America were free. This was a huge step in making our country truly free to all people. The reconstruction of the south did not however work out smoothly for the freed slaves. There were many roadblocks along the way such as the Black Codes, the Plessy vs. Ferguson case and the terror of the Ku Klux Klan. The 14th amendment gave the freed slaves citizenship and some voting rights. From the reconstruction the 14th amendment the black Codes and the Plessy vs. Ferguson case all had significance on the status of African Americans from reconstruction to 1900. The radical republicans method of reconstruction called for an amendment that would do three things. Extend citizenship for all people. Punish the southern representation in the house if they didnt allow black voting, and not allowing and former confederates to hold office. These three things made up the 14th amendment. Also in the radical republican recon struction plan was the idea of station military in the south. This was very effective in giving the blacks their rights. Unfortunally when the military left the rights of the blacks went with them. The white supremacists treated the south as 2nd class people and were not given opportunities to get any jobs but manual labor. Also the KKK was formed to scare away blacks from voting and keep them in their so-called place, the plantation. The 14th amendment was a good thought, but it did not work out how the radical republicans had hoped going into the 1900s After Lincoln was shot in December of 1965, vice president Andrew Johnson took over office. He was a southern man and was not interested in blacks having the same rights as white people. Infact he encouraged southern states to intact laws limiting the blacks freedom. These laws were called black codes. They ranged in harshness through out the states but in all...